Perhaps stumping for GOP candidates while still in the closet will convince people you're straight. Then realizing that they have a platform of intolerance and bigotry makes it harder to come out gives you second thoughts as to your choices.

The burden of being gay in a repressed culture AND a dupe must be soul-crushing.

I'll be honest, I never thought he was gay, I just thought he was flamboyant. Actually, I never thought one way or the other about it. It's a shame though, the tail (other kind of tail) he could be getting.